Herald of Steel

Laykash really felt that he had missed a prime opportunity to end the battle then and there,

Even if tens of people had thrown themselves in front of Perseus to take the sword stabs and spear thrusts in place of him, Laykash really regretted not having even tired.

If he had, perhaps he could not have killed the king, but at least he could have surely taken out some high-level personnel of the enemy country.

Thus as the young, brave man fought relatively close to the front lines, his heart was filled with regret, and no matter how much he called the grapes sour, it could not distract him from his pain at this missed opportunity.

While on the opposite end, Leosydas after dragging back his king to the very rear of the formation, started to scold him,

“Now will you behave?”

“I told you it was dangerous in the front lines. What would we have done if something did happen to you?”

“…..” Perseus at first did not answer.

Instead, he hung his head low and concentrated on stabilizing his breathing and resting his exhausted body a bit.

But then resolutely sounded,

“This is war.

“And we are already outnumbered. So my men need me there, fighting shoulder to should with them.”

Hearing the man not change his tune one bit even after being almost slashed in half, Leosydas should have been astounded.

But he was not.

Because this was certainly not the first time something like this happened.

In fact, given Perseus’s propensity to regularly take part in battles, it was not even a not-so-infrequent occurrence.

Leosydas even knew that if Perseus had bared his body, one would find clear, distinct signs of at least six grievous wounds on him, two large dots from two spear strikes on the right thigh, a sword wound on the left calf, two arrows punchers around the left shoulders, and a large scar across the chest courtesy of a slash from a longsword.

And this was not to even mention the countless smaller scars dotted all across his body.

In fact, it could even be considered miraculous that none of the wounds had turned gangrene and killed the man.

Leosydas could easily predict that Perseus would not back down after this slight hiccup.

And so readily proposed, “Okay, let’s do what we always do. Swap your armor and horse with me.”

The smart man had come up with this technique a long time ago, and so in many previous battles, unbeknownst to most of Tibian, save for a few top ones, it was Leosydas that had led from the front, and not Perseus.

“Mmm,” At this proposal, Perseus did not display any of his usual bullheadedness and instead with a swift nod of his head, instantly agreed.

The man might be brave, but he was not stupid.

And knew how disastrous it would be for Tibias if he were to die in battle.

And thus soon, the same ornate armor and horse again revealed itself to the frontline, once again boosting the Tibians, while slightly demoralizing Menes’s forces, who had assumed the king had died.

“Hahaha! Men! Looks like getting his ass handed to him once was not enough. He’s back for more” While Laykash, seeing that the heavens were giving him a second shot at the prize was very pleased, feeling that the gods were rewarding them for their good karma and even increased the bounty on the head, shouting,

“20,000! Anyone who kills the king now will get 20,000!”

But if he thought that would be as easy as the first time, Laykash would be grossly mistaken.

Because Leosydas was a much more cautious man than Perseus and his fighting style reflected that.

Unlike his friend, the man mostly defended, keeping his shield close to his chest and only parring or counterattacking, all the while the numerous skilled men around him did all the killing and maiming.

Leosydas did not even fight on the literal front row, but placed himself on the second row, thus minimizing his risk even more.

All this meant that if Laykash wanted to get another chance at the precious head, it would be much, much harder.

And no one suspected that this was not real Perseus, as the two men shared a similar physic and it was difficult to tell who was who when fully clad in armor anyway.

As a matter of fact, given how well the armor hid the body, Perseus could have changed places with his wife, and in the heat of the battle, most people would not have noticed.

And as for the change in his battle style, well anyone would be cautious after getting knocked off their horse and almost killed.

In fact, to the Tibians, the fact their king had chosen to rejoin the battlefield after his fall was a true testament to his zeal and martial prowess.

And the soldiers loved him for it.

Because they saw the man always put himself in as much as danger as them, leading the fight from the front.

Which was much different from Alexander’s style of fighting.

And as such, some Tibian commanders were heard loudly jeering them for it, as they mocked,

“Push men, push!”

“Push these cowards back into the river.”

“Their commanders fight from the backs of horseback.”

“They are craven worms.”

“When things get tough they will leave their soldiers to die and escape, hahaha.”

Such taunting was meant to demoralize the opposing sides, and though the Zanzan troops shrugged it off at first, many taking pride in how they had won their previous battle.

But after a few hours of hard fighting, this constant deriding started to show its effects.

Menes could sense his army was cracking and buckling, and though a rout was not imminent, it was certainly inevitable.

This had happened because over time, his men were slowly pushed back, surely and consistently, making them get ever closer to the river banks.

And every legionary dreaded to think what would happen after that as they were pinned against the banks.

While for Menes, his only solace up until now was that his casualties were not too high yet, numbering only around three hundred.

This was because a phalanx was not really designed to kill.

It was made to poke holes in the enemy formation and make them realize that they had no way to break through the wall of pikes, thus making them rout as they would see that there was no point in dying helplessly against an enemy they would not touch.

Or if that did not happen, the phalanx would make the enemy back up until they reached a geographical or man-made barrier, such as a hill, mountain, river, or even the opposing camp, before pinning the trapped enemy and skewering them.

And this was exactly what was about to happen, as Menes’s forces got ever closer to the river banks with each passing second.

“Don’t flatter! Strike back!”

“Fight! Fight for your lord!”

“Fight for your women and children!”

The commanders and officers on this also tried to raise morale and make the legionaries push back, chanting encouraging words.

Menes had even sent some of his higher-level soldiers to the very front lines in response to the Tibian jeers so that the first-echelon troops did not feel abandoned.

And this worked to a limited degree.

The collapse and retreat of the army considerably decreased as the Zanzan soldiers to their credit fought doggedly, trying their level best to not give the enemy ground.

For money, for their family, and even for their lives.

But still, they could not ultimately stop the collapse.

Menes was still losing ground.

Because the simple fact was that legionaries simply could not win against a phalanx formation on flat ground.

Sure they could hold their ground for a while, and even slow the opposing side down. 𝐞𝗻𝐨𝘃𝗹.𝐜𝐨𝗺

But in a pure melee combat, a phalanx would always come out on top.

So something else needed to happen for the side using legionary formation to win.

And this was something Menes was learning the hard way.

‘Should I order a retreat?’ The giant general, hence seeing the battle’s result be close to being decided started to seriously ponder his remaining options.

He figured, ‘If I order it now, with the frontline soldiers still having some energy left in them, and by using the first legion and 1,000 crossbowmen I have in reserve to act as rear guards, I can still perform a good, orderly retreat.’

But the big problem here was the river.

Performing such a retreat with around 5,500 rear guards on flat ground as child’s play.

Doing the same thing with a river to the back was a daunting prospect.

Even if that river was relatively calm and quite shallow.

Menes estimated he would lose at least a thousand in the best-case scenario, and might even lose up to four to five thousand (4,000 – 5,000) if things went wrong.

And these numbers were so high that daunted by the probable losses, he began to alternatively wonder.

‘Or maybe I can use the reserves to stabilize the frontlines.’

‘It likely won’t be enough to stop the collapse, but it might be enough to slow it down enough so that the battle drags on till dusk.’

‘And then we can retreat at night.’

Both ideas had their pros and cons, and Menes oscillated between them, knowing he had to choose one soon.

The time window to make a difference with either one was closing fast.